Fear is temporary, regret is forever

Hello people, welcome to part 2 of Louise does crazy things that are a bit out of character. I’m an expert daredevil now, apparently. So what could I possibly do that’s more intense than a skydive and ten times scarier. How about the world’s highest bridge bungee jump, plummeting 216m into a valley? This was one of two things I was so eager to do as soon as I booked my trip to South Africa. Bloukrans bridge bungee jump and Mossel Bay shark cage diving, which I never got to do. So, the nerves kicked in a lot earlier than they did when I went skydiving, most of us were a little nervous but as we drove through the beautiful Tsitsikamma national park we blared some motivational tunes to pump us up (courtesy of Harriet.)

Get psyched playlist:

Survivor- Destiny’s Child

Worlds Greatest- R Kelly

Etc etc…

You get the jist. So it all begins by signing your life over to the company who runs the jump, face adrenaline. Basically if you die it’s not their fault, don’t even think about coming back from the dead to haunt them. Then, even more harrowing, you are weighed and in thick black marker it is written on the back of your hand alongside your number. Then it is time to get harnessed up and ready to cross the bridge to your fate. Again, this activity is seriously cheap for what you are getting, I miss South African prices, to jump the Macau tower in china it costs around £281, to jump Bloukrans bridge it costs £42. However, once you’ve paid it there’s no backing out, well actually there is quite a lot of backing out, but no refunds. Next is the walkway to the bridge which a lot of people sincerely find the scariest part. I saw so many people freak out at this part, the 216m drop is right below you and the path does not seem very steady at all plus you also have to share this path with people coming away from the jump, having just finished it. Although, the happiness and pride on their faces made me want to run through, I could feel the adrenaline starting to kick in, although my nerves where a lot higher than they had been my whole trip.

It’s quite a strange sight once you get through, first thing you hear? Cries of the unwilling? Screams of those falling to their fate? Nope, the first thing you hear is loud dance music coming from a DJ set. We all had a dance and a sing, we requested Wakka Wakka but the DJ’s response was ‘The world cup was five years ago! We are so sick of that song’ hahahah. The atmosphere is great and the guys who work there really go out of their way to make sure you have the best experience possible; they’re cracking jokes and taking your photo. We all stood there cheering each other on, watching each face full of terror, plummet over the edge and then joy as they are pulled back up to the bridge. They say around 30% of people who make it this far back out, such as the girl before us who hovered at the ledge until she broke out into hysterical crying and ran back to her family, obviously not the most encouraging thing.

It wasn’t long til one of the guys pointed at me, pulling me over to the edge by my harness, I wasn’t sure if I was scared or excited, but surely didn’t dwell on it. The guys wrapped the padding round my legs and hooked me up to the rope. They were funny, when I told them I was from Liverpool they responded with ‘you’ll never jump alone.’ They carried me forward so my toes hung over the edge, I tried not to look down as they gave me some final instructions. Dive head first, open your arms and keep your eyes open. I was so eager to jump, I couldn’t stop dancing with excitement, turning round to give me pals one last smile before it was time. I couldn’t let myself look down at the drop below, if I did my mind would start to wonder, hmmm is this tiny rope really strong enough. I could hear my mates, cheering me on, this made me feel like I was absolutely invincible. I wanted to jump, I wanted to jump now and then it was time 3…2..1…BUNGEE JUMP.

It was the craziest feeling you could ever imagine, you know when a roller-coaster drops and you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach, like that but a hundred times stronger. I looked down as the ground got closer and closer, the fall seemed to last forever and I absolutely screamed my head off. I’m not going to lie to you, it is scary, but in a really good way. It’s hard to say why I found this so much more nerve wrecking than the skydive, maybe because you are completely alone, its up to you to get over that ledge. It wasn’t long til I felt the tension in the rope, I can tell you now there is absolutely no whip lash if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s so smooth when the rope finally catches your weight, I could barely feel it. But as soon as I started to spring back up and down again, I howled with laughter . The view was incredible, a huge deep blue lake beneath me, I was happy just to hang there for a while as the adrenalin rushed through me, I had the best high. I couldn’t believe what I’d actually just done; it was incredible, the best feeling. Shortly a guy on another rope came and clipped me onto him so he could get us back up. He was super friendly and only made me feel even better about what had just happened.

When I got to the top all my friends were there, hugging me and saying ‘well done’ just as I had done for them. Seriously, jumping of Bloukrans Bridge is probably the scariest and best thing I have ever done, I can’t recommend it enough. Afterwards I purchased the video of my jump (which can be seen below) and a face adrenaline sweatshirt with a slogan I could not agree with more ‘fear is temporary, regret is forever.’ If you get the opportunity to do this, do not turn it down, you will have the most amazing time and of course earn official bragging rights about being a badass for eternity.